And saves struggling company while he's at it!
BeachGrit promises to be
anti-depressive. You must know that I try my very best to bring you
daily doses of good cheer but often veer uncontrollably toward the
dark. Like Andy Warhol killing
Billabong’s bottom line. Or a young boy’s dream of
making the World Surf League’s championship tour and then
losing
everything. Or the continent of Australia turning its
back on its current best female surfer in the world Tyler Wright.
And that was just last week.
But hope springs eternal and this morning I bring you a story of
good cheer. Gabriel Medina, well coiffed Brazilian pro, is buoying
a near-bankrupt Brazilian company. And when was the last time you
read about an investment in a surfer actually paying off in any
way, shape or form? Maybe not for a decade and let’s turn to
Bloomberg for the facts.
Oi SA has been treading water in bankruptcy proceedings for
17 months, but the Brazilian phone carrier is finding some
inspiration from the country’s top surfer.
Gabriel Medina, a front-runner in the World Surf League,
will vie for his second title when the 2017 season wraps up this
month in Hawaii. That’s good news for Rio de Janeiro-based Oi, one
of Medina’s main sponsors, which was quick to celebrate his latest
victory off the coast of Portugal at the end of October. “Oi
invests a lot in surfing,” Medina said. “It’s awesome. I’m really
pleased.”
Oi needs all the help it can get. The company has been
bleeding customers, including more lucrative users on long-term
contracts, for 12 straight quarters. As its networks sit neglected
and Oi struggles under $19 billion in debt, surfing and
skateboarding offer a cheaper sponsorship alternative than Brazil’s
most popular sport: soccer.
The nature of surf contests, which last for days and only
run in optimal wave and wind conditions, makes them more popular on
mobile devices, making it an obvious fit with Oi’s wider business
model. More Brazilians stream live surf competitions than any other
nation, consistently surpassing the U.S. and Australia, said Bruno
Cremona, Oi’s head of sponsorships and events.
“Oi may have identified the need to strengthen its image by
looking for something new to show that it’s changing, leaving
behind the outdated image of a company full of problems,” said
Mauricio Turra Ponte, a professor of marketing and sustainability
at the Escola Superior de Propaganda & Marketing in Sao
Paulo.
Image aside, plenty of problems persist behind the scenes.
Marco Schroeder, whose office was decorated with four autographed
surfboards, quit as Oi’s chief executive officer on Nov. 24 after
trying to reach a recovery deal with creditors while clashing with
the board. Less than two months earlier, Oi’s chief financial
officer also resigned.
The company lost 10 percent of its wireless users in the 12
months through September, and Schroeder had regularly warned that
it needs to get out of bankruptcy protection and speed up
investments in its network if Oi wants to stop the subscriber
rout.
Surfing allows Oi to stand out more than if it had invested
in more mainstream sports with bigger sponsors competing for the
spotlight, said Ponte, the marketing professor. The athletes
themselves also project a wholesome image — Medina regularly
travels with his whole family to surf contests as far away as Fiji
— which contrasts with the counterculture overtones the sport has
in the U.S.
“Medina’s image is very favorable. He’s handsome,
well-behaved, he kisses his mom,” Ponte said. “Everyone would like
to invest in a person like this.”
If you are not not anti-depressed now then you simply have no
heart. Also, I had absolutely no idea what Oi was until now.
